Chris Rickleton

The arrest of opposition politicians on the eve of local elections continues a trend in which even the hint of political competition to President Sadyr Japarov’s regime is being discouraged.

Despite being Central Asia’s richest economy, environmentally damaging landfills are still the norm when it comes to waste management. But Kazakh activists and eco-entrepreneurs are doing what they can to create alternatives.

Wycombe Wanderers, majority-owned by Georgian-Kazakh Billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze, is competing in a league featuring Hollywood owners. At the moment, the Kaspi.kz co-founder's team is topping the table, but club officials stress that their vision is a long-term one.

The wild apple forests of the Tien-Shan mountains close to Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, are not just picturesque. They are widely regarded as the region where apples genetically originated. What better place, then, to brew cider, a centuries-old alcoholic drink based on apple-pressing that is particularly popular in the west country of England?

Two decades ago, Kazakh-language books accounted for less than 1 percent of the books in some big city shops. Now the proportion is closer to 10 percent, and publishers are increasingly willing to take risks to bring new titles to the language.

Russia has long been a destination for Central Asian workers. But rising attacks and discrimination against migrants as well as the sliding Russian economy have lessened Russia’s appeal.

The arrest of an Uzbek citizen over the killing of a Russian general in Moscow has triggered fear and panic among Central Asian migrants in Russia.

Officials have lashed out at critics and strained to justify the decision to switch to a unified time zone in the world's ninth-largest country. Now there are signs that they may reverse course on one of their most unpopular moves in recent times.

Amid a long-term demographic crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared 2024 the Year of the Family. Laws drafted or enacted throughout the year targeted abortion, divorce, and "childfree propaganda."

Abdukodir Khusanov's reported $40 million transfer to world soccer powerhouse Manchester City has made the 20-year-old the first Central Asian to reach the prestigious English Premier League.